Lincolnton High School student arrested following shooting threat

LINCOLNTON, NC (FOX 46 WJZY) - A Lincolnton High School student was arrested on Tuesday after a shooting threat sent through Snapchat caused the school to go on lockdown.

“I knew it was just some dumb kid being stupid wanting attention and stuff like that. I didn’t take it super seriously, I was a little more cautious though,” said Amanda Holland a Senior at Lincolnton High School.

Wyatt Hauser is also a Senior at Lincolnton High School and said, “I thought it was a hoax and a joke.”

But some students took the threat seriously including high school Junior, Megan Harrill.

“They were like are ya’ll going to leave? Is your mom going to pick you up early? Is something going to happen? Because we were all looking at the clock like is something going to happen? Is it time yet? But, nothing ever happened," said Harrill.

Students say the principal made an announcement alerting everyone to the threat. School officials say the school was placed on lockdown and parents were called and notified.

“Parents were calling kids. Parents were picking up kids whenever the classes were changing,” said Hauser.

Harrill said, “Everybody kind of got freaked out and were like what’s going to happen I don’t know. So I got kind of paranoid and I called my mom and she was like ‘no, it’ll be fine they’re just trying to get attention.”

Harrill said she would feel safe staying home Wednesday.

“I’ve heard a lot of people say they’re going to stay home. Better to be safe than sorry.”

Students say during dismissal they were kept inside and sent out by the busload. Students who drove to school had to wait before leaving.

“It did make me feel safer because I knew they were here to protect us and to be here for us,” said Harrill.

School officials say the school will operate on a normal schedule Wednesday and additional officers will be on site out of an abundance of caution.